NEW DELHI: A day after tapes of phone conversations involving Rahul Mukerjea and his father Peter Mukerjea, a former media baron, and his stepmother Indrani suggesting an attempt to cover up the murder of Sheena Bora was leaked, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday said that these clips were fully investigated by the agency and is integral part of charge sheet in the case.
Sheena, daughter of socialite Indrani from her past marriage, was allegedly strangled in a car by Indrani on April 24, 2012 and her body was burnt before it was dumped in a forest in adjoining Raigad district of Maharashtra.
“All the audio recordings form an integral part of the charge sheets filed by CBI in court against Peter Mukherjea, Indrani Mukherjea and others on November 19, 2015 and February 16, 2016,” said a CBI officer.
The officer further stated that these audio recordings are relied upon materials in the charge sheets and already submitted in the court. “The court has taken cognizance of the same,” the officer said.
The agency had filed two charge sheets in which Indrani, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna, her present husband Peter and former driver Shyamvar Rai, have been charged with murdering Sheena, disposing of her body and disappearance of evidence.
The officer also said a special court in Mumbai directed the agency to begin arguments on framing of charges in the murder case from the next date of hearing due in mid-September. The Special Public prosecutors Bharat Badami and Kavita Patil told the court that the prosecution is ready to open the case in support of framing of charges. “We are ready to start the trial,” they said.
On leaked tapes of tapes of phone conversations, the agency said told court that since media was trying to snatch words from two CBI witnesses in the case they felt that there should not be a ‘parallel trial’ in the case and that their witnesses need to be protected.
To this, the court said that nobody is taking media reports seriously.
The court also extended the judicial custody of key accused Indrani, her husband Peter and her ex-husband Sanjeev till September 13.
The court also made it clear that none of the parts of the purported tapes on the murder case were leaked from the court. CBI also told the court that there was no leak from their side too. The court also pointed out that if the CBI feels that anybody is doing intentionally then it can go ahead and take action against media.
Indrani, her former driver Shyam Rai, who has now turned approver in the case, and Khanna had strangled Sheena, Indrani's daughter from an earlier relationship, inside a car in April 2012. The trio were arrested in August last year, while Peter was arrested in November. According to CBI, Peter was part of the murder conspiracy.